


The machine beneath your chest

by Icandigelvis



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Future, Alternate Universe - Post-Apocalypse, Alternate Universe - Robots & Androids, Fluff and Smut, Hubots, M/M, Robot/Human Relationships, Strangers to Lovers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-28
Updated: 2017-01-27
Packaged: 2018-09-20 08:45:23
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,974
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9483458
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Icandigelvis/pseuds/Icandigelvis
Summary: Life as a scrap hunter isn't very eventful. Shoyo travels across the massive wasteland of an electronics dump in Area 5C every day, searching for machines, gadgets and batteries to sell. Stood in his yellow overall, one boot on a broken toaster, his voltage-tracker suddenly goes frantic in his hand. It's detected something. Something big.





	

**Author's Note:**

> New work woho! I've had this lying in a folder for who knows how long.  
> This is going to be a two-parter and hopefully I'll upload the other part tomorrow!
> 
> I find it a bit nerdy to rec music but you might've heard of Nightcall- Kavinsky? Think that :)
> 
> Also!! if you've read works by me before this is sort of in the same AU as "Pacman 300", a phafic. ~~Just a hell of a lot better written... I hope~~

Shoyo huffed, standing up straight to stretch his back, hands on his hips. A piece of plastic cracked under his boots and he glanced down at yet another container of some sort, possibly a lunch box. He glanced around himself, gloved fingers fiddling with his belt before deciding he would take one last stroll before heading home.

It was getting dark outside and when he realized he couldn’t tell if there was a scrapped fridge or washing machine in front of him Shoyo raised his hand to turn on his headlamp. Getting a reminded to pull down the x ray and heat camera he made a quick check around the piles of garbage before sighing and pulling the device up on his head again.

His yellow Mechanic’s Overall felt dirty and warm. The hole at his right elbow let in cold air though, Shoyo figuring the ventilation wasn’t unwelcomed. He would have to patch it up when it got colder, nothing a little duct tape couldn’t fix.

Half-running down a scrap-pile he reached muddy ground again, picking up a small charging device from the ground; he was sure it could be saleable. He examined the item, brushing away a bit of mud and reading the serial number on the bottom. It was for the A552 which he had predicted, a small grin on his face.

“Don’t fail me now,” he whispered, taking out his trusty Multi-tool and pressing the well-worn yellow button, the 8-bit display showing him a low rate of electricity in the charging device. It was low, but it was there.

“Yes!” Hinata grinned to himself, shrugging out of his backpack to store the item inside after rolling the busted wire around it. Wires he had plenty off; he could easily fix that later in the workshop.

Shoyo was happy with his finds for the day. A charger to the A552 box, a Motorola phone from 2087 and two registered tablets of Sony, along with a number of batteries. If he got the Motorola to function with at least DOS, perhaps even Windows 95 or Unix, he would celebrate with Noya. And maybe rub it in his friend’s face a little too…

Suddenly his tracker gave off two beeps at his belt and Shoyo frowned, closing his bag and throwing it over his shoulder again. Two cords, one red and one blue were connected to the tracker, the other ends attached to the battery Shoyo always had tied around his ankle, hidden inside his nano boots. Having shoes that fitted to your feet regardless of what size was amazing but most importantly they protected him from metal scraps and charged devices. He had purchased them two months ago after he rolled in a particularly good find, something that earned him a lot of money in return. Asahi had convinced Shoyo he should spend the money on a good pair of boots for once, compared to the shitty rubber boots he used before. Shoyo had to admit, now afterwards, it was a very good idea.

The tracked beeped again and Shoyo picked it up, raising his eyebrows at the display meter, the line having raised high. Shoyo took a couple steps forwards, careful to not trip over an antenna sticking up from the mud. The tracker didn’t raise further and Shoyo walked left instead, the beeping now increasing to three between a couple of seconds.

_‘If it’s a fucking guard dog I swear to_ ’- Shoyo thought.

All mechanics and scrap hunters like him despised the guarding robots. They were constantly charged, with up to 1000 volts, stealing from devices around them automatically, and would fire at anyone coming near. Even though the guarding robots were thrown away and didn’t have anything to protect here at the junkyard, they still continued to guard random spots. Shoyo had jumped high in the air many times from being scared by the stupid things. He usually gave up trying to scrap them for parts because it was too much work.

But when he continued forwards he still couldn’t hear any mechanical barks, glancing at another old washing machine, hoping no one would jump out at him.

The tracker now gave of 5 beeps, _5 beeps_ , and Shoyo was slowing down his steps. He still couldn’t see anything sticking out as being different around the place. He hadn’t been at this particular spot before, but someone must’ve had to? There had to be at least 10 scrap hunters in Shoyo’s are, Area 5C. The garbage dump took up 80% of the town, with the waste dump spreading over many kilometers. The few residents of Area 5C lived in the block of apartments that never got bulldozed, some in shabby conditions. They still got by.

He cautiously flicked down his goggles, the x ray not giving him anything high lightened anywhere, nor did the heat camera.

Shoyo wondered if it was worth it to do a 3D shot of the area in front of him, biting his lip as pondered for a moment. He wasn’t prone to using the device as re-charging it took a lot of work. But he hadn’t seen these high readings since he found a self-driven motorbike around three years ago. That was yet his best find as a scrap hunter.

Mustering up the courage, Shoyo continued forwards nonetheless. He was up to 6 beeps by now, constantly glancing between his tracker screen and the garbage dump in front of him. Way, way past the larger piles the tall buildings could be seen; Shoyo had only gone into the capital; The Bubble, to the sky scrapers once.

Suddenly his eyes fell on a large canister a couple metres in front of him. It looked like it was larger than Shoyo himself and he prayed to whoever that he would be able to open it with his hands and trusty saw. He had _of course_ left his grinder and cutting torch home today.

Shoyo walked up to the canister, waving around his tracker to make sure this was the cause of his device going nuts. And it was; as soon as he held the tracker closer the beeping turned into a white noise. Shoyo lowered the volume before attaching it to the back of his belt again, careful with the wires not getting stuck anywhere. Simple duct tape kept it attached to his overall at his leg and hip.

He did a quick check with his x ray but the metal concealed whatever was inside, just like he had expected. Which also meant it could be something good. The metal canister was resting against a pile of plastic bags, Shoyo giving the huge thing a look over before realizing the entire thing was positioned upside down. He could see the hatch pressed into the mud and Shoyo bit his lip yet again.

This could be something good.

Was this actually a spot of the scrap dump no one had searched? Was this a revolutionary find? Shoyo just hoped to whoever that it wasn’t some damn military device. Noya had found an old machine gun once, one that used bullets. Shoyo never got to see it before Noya posted it to the authorities.

He knocked on the metal at the top, the sound informing him it was hollow. He knocked along the side and his eyes widened as the sound changed towards the bottom. So something was definitely inside, something that didn’t fill the entire thing.

Shoyo walked up the garbage pile, kicking away a toaster to get better ground beneath his feet. With a grunt he tried to push the thing over, “tried” being the keyword. He released a breath, his hands dropping from the canister. It had barely even budged. He had faintly heard something move inside but other than that only stuff around his feet gave way. Shoyo watched a battery roll down the hill, wondering if he should pick it up but couldn’t be bothered. If there truly was something good inside Shoyo wouldn’t have to pick batteries from the ground for a while.

He powered up his arm-pieces, the small metal arms expanding down his arms. He pushed his palms flat against the canister again, the metal rods pushing up against it around his fingers.

“Speed: Slow. Push,” Shoyo commanded and the metal started pushing, a slight strain on Shoyo’s upper arms where the Power Arms were attached.

The canister slowly tilted forwards and then fell onto the side, Shoyo quickly jumping down to catch it before it rolled away further.

“Uff,” he moaned as he grabbed onto the thing, his boots digging into the mud as he finally stopped the cylinder from rolling.

“Retreat,” Shoyo mumbled, feeling the light vibrations as the devices around his arms moved back up his arms.

He walked around to the front where the hatch was, sighing in relief as he discovered the lock to be a simple number-lock. After crouching in front of the round door he took out his multi-tool again, brushing off some mud with a cloth before holding the device against the lock. His little machine immediately started working and Shoyo watched the numbers fly over the screen before one in turn lit up. 46 23 91 88 05. He repeated the numbers in his head before pressing them into the number-lock, not too quick and not too slow.

If something like a shitty guard dog was contained inside Shoyo would murder someone. Probably the guard dog.

He stared at the lock as it gave him a green light to turn it, slowly doing so. It clicked unlocked and now all Shoyo had to do was move the slide lock to the side. But with another second to think he decided to be safe rather than sorry and took out his taser gun, holding it hidden behind his back as he used his left hand to push the lock to the side. With a little difficulty, since it was still a bit muddy, he grabbed the handle and started pulling.

The round door was pretty heavy but Shoyo managed to pull it open after he stood on his feet again.

When he crouched again his head lamp shone a bright light inside and if Shoyo’s heart hadn’t been beating furiously before it surely did now. It took him a second, maybe two before his eyes realized what he was looking at and Shoyo scrambled backwards, dropping his taser in the mud as he moved backwards in plain fear.

_‘Another dead body_ ’, his mind quickly came up with, his eyes still stuck on the form inside. A shiver ran down his back as he took in the view, a piece of black hair, the top of someone’s head as the person lied in a fetal position.

“Fuck,” he whispered, shakily picking up his multi tool at his feet, pressing the yellow button and holding the device towards the now open canister. Nothing happened and Shoyo cursed as he knew he had to get closer to even get a reading. He absolutely hated finding dead bodies. It was pretty rare and most times there was only parts and traces left of whoever, because wild animals got to them first. The skeletons were always left, however.

But this one? They must have been concealed inside the canister for who knows how long. Something in the back of Shoyo’s head told him to be careful, however, as there still wasn’t any horrible smell hitting him. ...and how could the body looks so recent?

Could it be?

No.

Collecting himself he took a deep breath, absently finding himself holding it, as he flicked down the x ray camera. And his heart stopped dead in his chest.

Goddamn.

It was a hubot.

A goddamn hubot.

“Holy shit-apples,” Shoyo gasped, making sure he was seeing what he was seeing. He pulled the x ray up to give the person inside another look before flicking down the camera again, repeating a couple times.

Suddenly a thought hit him and Shoyo stood up, scanning the area around him, eyes large. Both from shock and from caution, like he was doing something he absolutely shouldn’t and had to make sure no one caught him. He had seen Lev a couple metres away that morning, lazily waving at the other as they both went about their day, rummaging around in the metal scraps of the dump.

But it was too late by now, his clock displaying 21:49 as he rolled the sleeve back.

Okay, he had to start moving.

Making sure one last time with his x ray Shoyo finally sneaked closer again, holding out his multi tool now that he was close enough. And the thing showed him the stats of the hubot, Shoyo almost gasping at each and every word and number.

This one seemed like it was still close to functioning!

Shoyo still felt a little on edge after scaring himself. But what else was he supposed to think than a dead body? No hubots were ever thrown at garbage dumps. Unless it was a manne-bot; a mannequin used to display clothes. But no, Shoyo shook his head, this one had an inside full of motors and wires compared to being hollow inside. As soon as he got the hubot out of the canister he could check it for model and serial numbers.

Firstly Shoyo grabbed a large piece of flat plastic to place in front of the canister. He didn’t want to drag the hubot out into the mud.

“Okay, here we go,” he mumbled, reaching inside the canister, trying to ignore the feeling of dread over his shoulders. A quick bolt of electricity hit his fingers as he touched the bots shoulders, which he had expected. Shoyo dug his hands under the hubot’s armpits and with another sigh started pulling. The bot was heavy, to say the least, but the canister it had hid inside was clearly much heavier.

He pulled the hubot outside, a male it looked like, and carefully let him lie onto the plastic. The robot was still holding onto his knees and Shoyo let it lie on it’s side as he walked around to sit behind it. With his multi tool in hand Shoyo extended the USB cable and attached it to the hublot's nape, where it’s USB port was. Shoyo discovered that his gloves had already left muddy and oily marks on the man’s clothes, the white scrubs probably being the ones the hubot came with.

Shoyo had seen many hubots, walking around in town and on the internet. He had a couple worn Electronics magazines from a couple years ago; they mentioned hubots every now and then. But mostly it was just ads about them. They were the workers of society. Society inside The Bubble, that was. Out here in the waste land no hubots roamed.

But this particular face Shoyo had never seen before. Most hubots were mass produced and looked identical. For example the HCDC had their regular ‘blonde asians’ while HumanBot Corps (which was one of the first companies to produce hubots) had blue-haired bots. Of course there were many, many more companies on the market today and the AI was being developed further each day, new models releasing almost weekly. And they had already long ago reached human intelligence with the bots, now all they could go now was beyond that.

Shoyo didn’t find it as scary as some people did. The resistance was losing members and more started believing in the hubots. They were better doctors, better teachers and better everything. They were fair in their judgement but also personal and positive; basically possessing whatever characteristic they were programmed with.

Then there were the personalized hubots, the customizable choices endless. Even though Shoyo had a positive view on artificial intelligence he couldn’t help but to cringe at the funeral business joining up with hubot-producing companies to nag the mourning families if “they didn’t just simply want their precious family members and friends back”. Shoyo believed that when you died: you died, and you should only exist in people’s memories as the person you were. For a copy to be made to look like you, act like you and fill your spot that you had left… that was just creepy. And wouldn’t it feel fake? The hubots were amazing nowadays, looking as human-like as possible, but it was still... a robot underneath all that silicone. Or whatever they used as skin.

His multi-tool completed the scan and Shoyo scrolled through the results. So it was a HCDC hubot as he had suspected. It also read: ‘Loosely custom features and a randomized behaviour.’

Huh.

So from Shoyo’s understanding this was a hubot made to behave like a human. It was definitely not a workBot, neither was it customized to replace someone. So either a wanted lover or friend, Shoyo gathered.

He read further through the information, absently scratching his head.

“Huh,” Shoyo huffed to himself, looking up again to make sure no one had sneaked up on him. A hubot would surely be something someone would fight for, probably even Lev.

Shoyo started up the basic program, wishing the damn loading would hurry the fuck up, his fingers tapping against his knee. When it finally finished Shoyo booted up a quick start, jumping only a little as the hubot’s eyes snapped open with a clicking sound. Because the damn thing was a humanized hubot it looked rather freaky, but Shoyo typed in the command to stand up, following as the hubot released it’s arms from it’s hold. With stiff movements the bot stood up, Shoyo following as his multi tool was still connected.

After making sure the inside of the canister was empty Shoyo finally turned to head home. Now all he had to do was get to said home without anyone seeing them. All the while controlling a bot running in the basic program.

Easy peasy…

With a shaky breath he typed in for the bot to turn 30 degrees to the right before typing in a walking command. Shoyo was hoping to whoever that the hubot could walk uphill and downhill the piles of garbage even in it’s basic mode. Because walking around them would take a hell of a lot more time.

To his relief the hubot could, and continued in silence to walk where Shoyo directed him to go. He had to stay close behind him so the cord could reach to the hubot’s neck, and it was a lot harder than Shoyo imagined.

After almost an hour Shoyo commanded the hubot to stop, turning to his left to see what made a noise. When it was silent around them, the night sky dark above him, he narrowed his eyes. Picking up a random metal can Shoyo tossed it in the direction the noise had come from, watching a rat sprint out from behind a broken down car. The red automobile was one of Shoyo’s way-points which meant he was now approximately 20 minutes from home.

Now the real danger of being noticed started. Shoyo succeeded in getting them to the edge of the garbage dump. The bot was walking sort of loudly, shoes almost stomping into the ground as he walked.

If only he could reach his apartment without being seen. Then the robot could make as much noise as it wanted.

Shoyo held up the broken fence and typed for the bot to first crouch then walk. The signs attached along the kilometer long fence were familiar to Shoyo, warning of dangerous materials and high voltages. And it was his work place.

Shoyo decided for the alley right in front of them, jogging up to walk beside the hubot now that they entered the ‘busy road’ of the small area Shoyo lived in. He made sure to hide the cord attached to the hubot and his multi-tool. If someone were to see them from far away it would be fine; it would just look like two humans walking together.

With a grin on his lips and heartbeat in his ears Shoyo finally entered his apartment building, hastily typing in the code and pulling the door open.

He made it.

He actually made it.

He commanded the hubot to walk up the stairs, Shoyo now walking in front of him, eyes shining from excitement. The entire building was his and he had searched all the apartments on all floors before settling down in one at the top.

And now Shoyo had found a hubot all by himself, and he would finally have enough money to buy himself a new motorcycle. Maybe even a new apartment!

Unlocking his door and almost shoving the hubot inside he finally let out a breath he didn’t know when he started holding.

_Finally._

↞⇚ ↖◃⏣▹↗ ⇛↠

Shoyo went straight for his workshop after entering his hideout, making the hubot sit down on his work bench after he sloppily cleaned all other little trinkets away. He turned off his headlamp and instead turned on the ceiling lamp, a small light bulb haphazardly attached inside an old beer bottle. After disassembling his power-arms and throwing off his gloves he put his hands on his hips, eyeing the blank-eyed hubot.

With tingling fingers he reached for his computer, the holographic keyboard popping up as he woke the device up.

“Let’s see here,” he mumbled to himself as he unplugged the USB cable from his multitool to connect the hubot to his computer instead.

His device, without being told, instantly started downloading the HCDC Hubot program from the net, Shoyo giving the hubot a look before giving in to his grumbling stomach.

Ramen it was, he decided after glancing inside his close to empty pantry. Electronics and little mechanics were scattered across Shoyo’s entire apartment, his LED fridge welcoming him in Russian when he opened it.

He crouched by his watercooler and filled a pot, dumping the cold noodles into the water and placing the pot inside his cooking machine. It was sort of sad how the cooker immediately asked if he was making noodles. Because what else did Shoyo eat? Pasta every now and then, sometimes pancakes and food in cans.

He couldn’t even remember the last time he ate an apple. Or any real fruit or vegetable for that matter.

“Taka-chan, can you put on the radio?” Shoyo asked, speaking rather loudly since his home system’s speakers got worse by every day it seemed.

“Absolutely, Shoyo-sama,” the robotic voice replied, soft music starting to play throughout his apartment. His cooker gave off a loud pling and Shoyo grabbed a pair of chopsticks from his self-opening drawer. Except it worked like rubbish and Shoyo would wake up in the middle of the night because the sound of the drawer opening over and over echoed through the apartment.

But it was also always an adventure trying to take anything from the drawer because while it was shutting it sometimes sped up and the damn thing had squeezed Shoyo’s fingers too many times.

Walking back into his workshop he found the HCDC program downloaded and done. Setting the noodles to the side to cool a bit Shoyo started up the program, furrowing his eyebrows at the basic installation guide. After opening up the program further he was much more pleased with the full control he got. He had sort of expected it to be harder to crack the thing but then again his computers tools were much more developed from whenever this hubot program was made.

Memorizing some of the information Shoyo started a check-up on the bot, watching the man’s shoulders relax, eyes rolling back in his head and a white light emitting from them.

Creepy.

Shoyo picked up his noodles, singing with the words of the song playing on the radio, mouth full of food. Interrupted mid sentence his vacuum cleaner suddenly replied.

“Starting, cleanup and polish-”

“No, no for fucks sake,” Shoyo hurried, setting his bowl on the table with haste as he ran over to the vacuum, a happy smile lightening up on the front of the little machine.

“Shut off, no vacuuming today,” Shoyo said but manually turned the machine off nonetheless.

“Goodbye! Thank you for today,” the machine happily exclaimed and Shoyo sighed, going back to his noodles. He should just get around to deactivate the voice command on the damn thing instead of leaving it on. But in a way the thing was like a pet...

After another couple minutes Shoyo finished his bowl of noodles and put the cutlery in the washer, appearing shiningly clean just 5 seconds later. He jogged back to his work station, shrugging out of his overall, only a t-shirt and shorts beneath.

He continued tinkering with the hubot, mostly reading up on the programming and researching how much the guy could be worth. When he checked online the price tags made his heart speed up, a dire laugh leaving his mouth. An ad already sold listed the following in the description: “96% Func HUBOT HCDC GOOD QUALITY 100% Realistic body type, MALE” and Shoyo glanced at the robot at his side.

A childish thought hit him and Shoyo knew it was dumb to give in to the idea… but he was curious. And this hubot was his! After absently looking around the room Shoyo stood in front of the hubot, trying to ignore the white light coming from the hubot’s eyes, and…

...carefully gripped it’s pants. With a quick tug Shoyo could indeed confirm that it was male and that it’s genitals looked just like a humans.

He felt a bit embarrassed and quickly went back to reading the files instead, but after a minute a giggle fell from his lips.

There was a lot of things Shoyo couldn’t understand in the program, even as he downloaded a guide to programming Hubots illegally. He learned a couple things but just as expected the actual brain of the guy was a completely separate program. He had never seen anything like this. It was extremely overwhelming and Shoyo just figured he should search for aggressive tools.

When he was close to getting a headache Shoyo mulled over a thought that hit him a couple minutes ago; Maybe he should just activate it?

The thought was a little scary and Shoyo hadn’t even thought about doing so until now. The minute he found it he thought about what it could sell for. He could probably search the systems to make sure the thing was fully functioning here in the programming codes. But wouldn’t he also have to test the hubot? To see if it was working in practice?

“Tomorrow,” Shoyo promised himself, putting his computer into resting mode.

“Now you stay here,” Shoyo said, pointing a finger at the hubot.  
For once Shoyo closed the door to his workshop, locking the door after him before escaping into the bedroom.

↞⇚ ↖◃⏣▹↗ ⇛↠

It would’ve been nice to naturally wake up for once, since Shoyo wasn’t going to scrap hunt today. But he woke up rather early nonetheless; he was too excited. Even going to sleep had been hard.

Shoyo threw on an oversized shirt, the fabric reaching down to his thighs. The print on it depicted a person jumping into the air, smashing a ball and Shoyo was pretty sure the act was some sort of sport.

The hubot was sitting in it’s spot when Shoyo unlocked the door and walked inside. The projector sun in the sky was shining through the windows and Shoyo turned off the lamps he had forgotten on yesterday.

Shoyo had never gotten to see the real sun since it went out, just a couple years before he was born. From the pictures he had seen this new one looked quite similar anyway.

The moment of truth came, the scrap hunter taking a shot of caffeine from his mini fridge before pressing Start. He had made a copy of the previous memory file the bot had, but put it on an external hard drive. In case something went wrong and… he would have to reboot it before selling nonetheless. No one wanted an old bot with old memories.

The setup was loading, giving off a pink-ish light from the tablet. Shoyo went to fetch some protein and vitamin matter, deciding on the taste of pear. He had never tried the real fruit either. The green blob was firm in his hand as he took bite after bite from it.

Going back into his workshop the setup was now asking the basic questions; language, region etc. Shoyo set it up, finishing the green matter, and completed the setup. The bot started moving, it’s head tilting up and then down again. Then up again and the white light disappeared, the blue eyes back, staring straight forwards.

And then it turned to look at Shoyo, the display reading “DONE” on his computer. Then it moved it’s body, relaxing it’s shoulders and legs swinging over the edge, head slightly tilting and chest starting to rise. Like it was breathing.

Shoyo gulped.

“Hiya,” he tried, because the hubot clearly wasn’t going to start the conversation.

“Hello,” a deep, male voice left the robot’s lips. And nothing about him was really ‘robot’. His occasional blinking, regulated breathing and restlessness in his fingers. It made Shoyo forget completely it was even a hubot in the first place, just like that, in seconds. The only thing that still told him the truth was the USB cord connected to the hubot’s nape and Shoyo’s computer.

Now, Shoyo had his couple of friends in Area 5C, Noya, Asahi, Lev, Kenma and so on. Yet he spent most of his time alone since he had to work and search for things to sell, to be able to purchase food. So hearing a new person’s voice, another “human’s” voice… it caught him a bit on edge.

“M-my name is Shoyo, I’m a scrap hunter” he tried in greeting, clearing his voice.

“Nice to meet you, Shoyo. My name is Tobio Kageyama,” the bot said.

Shoyo nodded, awkwardly watching the hubot and when no one said anything he glanced at his computer screen again.

“Okay, this is too weird. Maybe I should get the old memory bank,” Shoyo mused aloud, tapping his keyboard to find it.

“If I have an old memory bank I could run it if you’d like?” Tobio asked, Shoyo a bit thrown off from the robot proposing to help. Whenever Shoyo was repairing old phones or boxes of different kind they never asked him to help.

“Uh, no, I put it on an external hard drive,” Shoyo explained, glancing at the bot.

“If you give me permission to your computer I can run-”

“Not gonna happen,” Shoyo said quickly, opening the folder. He researched overlapping the memory bank for a minute before starting the process, the hubot silent beside him meanwhile.

Shoyo really hoped nothing bad had happened to the bot, hopefully he had just run out of battery at some point, not gotten scrapped while still being active. Shoyo still had no idea why he was hidden in the canister. He hadn’t found any weird things in Tobio’s system, after checking with different tools. An idea had been that he was a spy of some sort, or was used for secret military stuff which Shoyo discarded. He couldn’t possibly read through everything in the hubot’s system but he spent a good time examining any codes his searches came up with. A couple codes in his old memory bank, at the beginning, seemed to indicate he was a “family-bot” or something along the lines. Maybe a baby sitter? It was Shoyo’s guess this far.

The overwriting was easy enough and Tobio closed his eyes before his head slowly fell forwards again.

When it was done Shoyo started up the bot for the second time, watching him with wary eyes. Just to be cautious he had brought up the Emergency Stop, in case the bot would freak or try to report home. The hubots would report home whenever they were stolen or lost, if they had the battery they would simply take the closest road towards a warehouse or center of their company. This hubot could very well be stolen and would perhaps try to report if reading an old memory bank.

Then suddenly Tobio’s head was raised, his eyes opening and head turning towards Shoyo.

Shoyo knew the taser gun was lying on the small table behind him, he put it there yesterday, and now his fingers were twitching for it. Because Tobio’s eyes slowly widened, in an eerie speed. His mouth fell slightly agape and then the bot wasn’t looking at Shoyo anymore, but at nothing in front of him. Was he perhaps reading information?

“Who are you?” Tobio suddenly asked, his voice clearly a bit stressed even though he seemed to have collected himself.

“My name is Shoyo, I’m a scrap-hunter,” the human replied, somehow feeling the need to speak clearly and loud for the bot. The black hair moved as the hubot nodded, regarding Shoyo before looking around the room.

“So I…” and then the bot twitched, his lids starting to flicker up and down before one eye closed completely. Shoyo didn’t want to interrupt whatever process the hubot went through but he opened his computer to read the logs. The coding was going by way too fast for Shoyo to comprehend so he opened up another program to clarify certains things. Shoyo was correct; the hubot was now collecting data from an online server, probably information about what’ve happened since whenever Tobio was last used.

Shoyo knew that the model wasn’t a new one, and it was at least 40 years since one of these models were made. The info was probably in the basic info page. Shoyo continued to glance at Tobio whenever but the bot had now closed both eyes, sitting completely still. And there he found it; the bot was 97 years old, 22 had to be the age in appearance.

Either this was a hubot who had been re-used a couple times or if the scrap hunter did the math correctly this meant he was created just before the Fifth Earth War.

Now Shoyo got a vague idea of what could’ve happened.

It took another 5 minutes, Shoyo continuing to watch the log while codes passed his eyes, picking up on any specific details. It mostly seemed to be updates and information files downloading.

And then Tobio stilled, his eyes slowly opening. The human watched in wonder as a sad smile fell over his face.

“-s it’s gonna be okay, Toru,” Tobio suddenly spoke, his voice only a whisper.

It was dead silent in the room, Shoyo watching him cautiously, mouth slightly agape in awe. The next second Tobio opened his eyes fully, staring at the floor before moving over to the human while still not moving his head.

“Are… you okay?” Shoyo couldn’t help but to ask.

“I’m fine,” was the immediate reply, the hubot’s shoulders relaxing as his face grew more expressionless by the second.

“Uh, okay,” Shoyo mumbled, turning back to his laptop. Now the commands running on the screen he recognized, these were the impressions Tobio was reading. What his eyes saw, his ears heard and his body felt; it was all registered in his brain in a similar fashion as the mechanics Shoyo sometimes had to tinker with.

Rubbing a hand over his forehead Shoyo turned back to Tobio with a sigh, wondering how he should go about this.

“Do you remember me?” he started with and the hubot nodded.

“Shoyo, scrap-hunter. Orange hair, a bit short.”

What the.

“Excuse me?” Shoyo asked, his eyebrows rising. So it was a human-like hubot, for sure. The reply was only a coy smile from the bot sitting at his desk.

“Yeah, whatever, just tell me quickly about yourself. Who bought you for the first time?” Shoyo asked, crossing his fingers the hubot wouldn’t say the info was confidential.

But instead the black-haired bot stayed silent, watching the human with a look in his eyes. Then he crossed his arms.

“Do I need to repeat myself?” Shoyo asked, forcing himself not to cross his arms as well, raising his eyebrows instead.

“I don’t want to tell you, it’s personal,” the bot finally said, “isn’t that fair?”

Shoyo was stumped for words. What was he supposed to reply to that? He was starting to wonder if he should just restart and customize this guy. He was definitely not used to the machines he worked on to talk back. They usually didn’t act like humans and refuse questions either.

“Well… no? Even if you look like a human you’re actually not. I’m not your owner, I’m just a mechanic who’s gonna sell you later,” Shoyo said, having to bite his tongue so he wouldn’t add “no offence” at the end. There was nothing to apologize for, this was just another machine, like every phone and charger he repaired.

“Then why do you care about my backstory?” was the quick reply, Tobio's voice almost monotone.

Ah well, he got pissed anyway.

“Can I just, please-” Shoyo tried instead, sighing, “Okay, at least tell me if you were part of anything illegal.”

“You’re not exactly making me more prone to comply.”

Shoyo was starting to lose his temper by now.

“Fuck this,” he whispered to himself and put his fingers on his keyboard. The feel of a hand suddenly gripping his wrist had his heart stop, a gasp leaving his breath. Jumping backwards Tobio had already let go of his arm, looking scared himself.

“I-I’m s- Just don’t turn me off,” The hubot breathed, looking too human for Shoyo to grasp. He stared at his computer, wondering if he should try either way, run for it again.

“Please,” Tobio quietly added. He almost sounded… scared.

An itch grew over Shoyo’s wrist and he absently grabbed it, cautiously watching the hubot on his table. The blue eyes were wide and his lips pressed together tightly. And he was gripping the edge of his shirt tightly as well.

“How about we do something else then?” the human proposed, a bit wary. He felt like he was speaking to a mix of an upset child and a dangerous animal.

↞⇚ ↖◃⏣▹↗ ⇛↠

Shoyo awoke with a sigh, shutting his eyes tight as he stretched in his bed. Or rather, his couch. Sitting up in surprise he found himself staring at the mess that was his living room, a poor excuse of one. Shoyo didn’t really understand though, why he couldn’t have his instruments and tools spread around the house. It wasn’t like he ever had visitors.

A movement in the corner of his eye reminded him otherwise.

Shoyo watched tiredly as Tobio had picked up a small trinket, a toy gun with an unnecessary ability to drain power, Shoyo noted. The hubot examined it in his hands, turning it over and then shaking it, listening to the rattling sound. Then he grabbed the gun properly in his hand, finger on the trigger.

There were no batteries inside, Shoyo was positive, but he couldn’t help but to watch in silence as Tobio aimed the gun at the wall, then at the trashcan beside him.

“Shouldn’t you rest?” Shoyo asked, interrupting the silence. The hubot glanced at Shoyo over his shoulder, frowning.

“Why?” he asked, carefully setting the gun down.

“Electricity might be the only thing we have here, but it’s still not limitless,” Shoyo explained, standing up and massaging his left upper arm; he must’ve managed to sleep on it. He was still wearing his overall so he headed straight for the kitchen.

Tobio didn’t reply but followed him inside, right on his heels.

It had been only two days since he found the hubot. Shoyo had planned to bring Tobio out with him soon, he knew the hubot had senses and features some of Shoyo’s tools did not. Maybe he could help him find stuff.

His original thought to sell the hubot was still in the back of his mind. It was just that…

Shoyo pushed away the thought. He didn’t want to think about it.

After a quick breakfast of translucent matter, a jelly-kind-of-goo, in which Tobio just watched Shoyo quietly, they finally got ready to head out.

“If we meet anyone, and I mean anyone, you fucking bolt. If everyone around wasn’t scrap hunters too I guess you could’ve played human,” Shoyo muttered, “but since they’ll all be carrying detectors and readers they’ll figure you out in a second. You can get inside here, can you not? Even if I lock the door,” Shoyo asked, watching Tobio nod.

“Good,” Shoyo nodded, pocketing his tracker which was useless with Tobio beside him; it would just go off into white noise, alerting Shoyo there was something with a high voltage around; Tobio. He still brought it though, out of habit. The yellow suit was smelling vaguely of oil and perhaps a bit of sweat, Shoyo finally admitted to himself, and made a mental note of washing it tonight.

Then he turned to Tobio who stood in a blue rain coat Shoyo had pushed to the back inside his wardrobe. It was thick and probably a good brand, but way too large for him. It suited Tobio quite well though.

“Why are you so quiet?” Shoyo asked.

Tobio regarded him for a moment before he replied, “Do you want me to speak more?”

“Well,” Shoyo trailed off, scratching his arm through the suit, “I suppose? You were a lot more talkative when you first woke up.”

“And then you got mad at me,” Tobio replied, wearing a strange expression. Shoyo pursed his lips, turning to the stairs.

“Well, let’s get to know each other a bit, okay? Scavenging for scraps isn’t usually too eventful, and if I’ve got company I’m going to enjoy it,” he smiled up at the hubot following him down the stairs.

It wasn’t as uneventful of a day as Shoyo had expected. Tobio was quite fun to speak to when Shoyo learned how he worked. It was hard getting over the fact that he was a hubot at first, but Shoyo realized if he put his scrap hunter’s thoughts away for a moment and treated Tobio as just another human, conversation was a lot easier.

Tobio was very interested in sports and spoke eagerly about a bunch of them. Apparently the two sons in the family he had lived in had played a group of different ones. Shoyo didn’t understand much of the terms but let Tobio blabber on about tosses and sets.

He was also quite sensitive, which was a contrast to his short-temper. Shoyo had a bit trouble keeping up at first and conversations between the two were abruptly ended with both disagreeing about something. But perhaps Tobio noticed too that they weren’t getting anywhere closer to getting along with the arguing and as Shoyo also tried to be more open-minded and not provoke the other too much they ended up laughing about things instead.

Shoyo had rather wanted to hear more about the life before the war, and while he was pretty sure a hubot couldn’t have PTSD Tobio didn’t always reply.

As the sun set over the triangular piles around the massive wasteland Shoyo held a hand to his chest, wheezing with laughter as Tobio grinned at him. He picked up another can and tossed it at the human who dodged. They hadn’t found much, just a box of card readers Shoyo was mildly sure he had ignored once before, probably having passed here already. They brought it back nonetheless, because Tobio had shone up when Shoyo told him it was a good find.

They were worth money, sure, and had quite strong chips in the readers but they were a hassle to pick apart, easy to break as well.

But it would have to do, Shoyo thought. He was still ignoring the thought of deactivating Tobio to sell him. He could think about that later.

↞⇚ ↖◃⏣▹↗ ⇛↠

It was only a week later when Tobio dug up a motor for an electric bike, holding it out to Shoyo with eager eyes. He knew it had to be something good, and he was right when Shoyo grinned and held up a hand for a high-five.

Tobio wasn’t exactly better at scavenging than Shoyo because even if he had his inhuman senses Shoyo had done this for a while. Sure, he couldn't use his trackers when walking beside Tobio, or being in a one km radius anyway, but he had been doing this for a while.

It was still so much better having the hubot with him; it was quicker being two, time went faster, but above all Shoyo enjoyed the company. He actually, really didn’t like being alone. When he now got a chance not to be… well it had only been a while with Tobio constantly around him and Shoyo was starting to realize how dependent he had grown about the hubot.

↞⇚ ↖◃⏣▹↗ ⇛↠

“No, you use it to work out,” Tobio exclaimed, hands on his hips.

“Work outside?” Shoyo asked, sounding unsure. He had come across the term before in magazines but never really understood what it mean, at least not with the context.

“It means exercising, like moving your body so it stays healthy.”

Shoyo looked at him, pouting. The hubot rolled his eyes, sighing dramatically and sitting down on the couch beside Shoyo. The human grinned and threw his legs into his lap.

“Please?” he quickly tried as Tobio had grabbed them to throw them down. Shoyo’s boots were still on and kind of muddy. The hubot eyed him for a couple seconds before sighing yet again. With slightly rough hands he unzipped the boots and threw them onto the floor, over by the door.

“Could I-”

“If you ask for a massage I’ll twist your feet off,” Tobio interrupted him, smiling menacingly. Shoyo just giggled nonetheless. He turned towards the screen of his old TV box, the DVD player connected to it. They were watching a series of some TV show, which was quite fun. Shoyo just couldn’t understand all references. But when Tobio laughed so did he.

↞⇚ ↖◃⏣▹↗ ⇛↠

“I think it’s time for lunch,” Shoyo declared, slumping down onto a washing machine that stood flat in the mud. Tobio looked up from where he was ripping through a box of christmas lights.

“Didn’t you say you would eat a bigger breakfast today just so you could eat lunch later?” He asked as he went back to rummaging through the thousands of cords and lights. Shoyo used to pick up Christmas lights when he started scrapping because he thought they looked pretty in his room. His workshop now only had one after Noya had stared at the horrendous light show Shoyo had before.

“It is later,” Shoyo replied defensively, unpacking the box with the fake pears and a purified bottle of water.

“Like 20 minutes,” Tobio judged him, discarding the box.

“Still later,” Shoyo smiled, taking a bite off the green blob. Tobio eyed him before walking over, Shoyo watching him curiously. He raised an eyebrow as the hubot couched in front of him. Then he opened the door to the washing machine, reaching inside to grab something. Shoyo parted his legs more, chewing as he watched Tobio reveal two AA batteries in his gloved palm.

“Good job,” he said around his food, swallowing afterwards. Tobio stood up, reaching over Shoyo’s back to put them into the humans backpack. The hubot was carrying the larger backpack, for the heavier stuff.

Shoyo stilled a bit, however, as Tobio was now way up in his space. The hubot looked down at him with a… strange expression as he opened the flap of Shoyo’s backpack, Shoyo hearing the two batteries fall into the small pile he already had in his bag. Tobio stared at him silently for a moment, the scrap hunter unable to look away into those stark, blue eyes.

Then Tobio finally closed the bag and stepped back, Shoyo flushing as he realized he was staring. Looking to the side he cleared his voice before taking another bite of his food. He could see Tobio watching at him in the corner of his eyes for a moment, before he went back to search around the area.

↞⇚ ↖◃⏣▹↗ ⇛↠

Shoyo gripped his cup of tea, gazing outside the cracked window of his bedroom. The starry sky outside was captivating but as identical as it had been yesterday. He was managing okay as he was, sure it wasn’t exactly the dream life he was living, but he was enjoying it. Kind of.

He looked down into the worn ceramic cup, sighing. The company of Tobio was a lot more worth to him than the fortune he could make off him, he had realized that now. Selling Tobio would leave him with money, sure, but Shoyo still wasn’t confident he could afford an apartment inside The Bubble, maybe not even a room in the Delta building.

He had only seen pictures of the massive building called Delta, housing countless humans in medium-sized rooms. It was a luxury for most, compared to living out here, but still the cheapest option inside The Bubble.

Shoyo was used to life in the wasteland though; the hardest part was when the winter hit Area 5C.

“Someone was broadcasting on line 4 that they’re selling a motorbike,” Tobio’s voice appeared in the doorway, the light slipping inside the otherwise dark bedroom. Shoyo turned on his bed, looking at the hubot.

“Where?”

“It Area 2B,” Tobio replied, eyes discreetly scanning around the room. It was rather well-kept compared to the rest of the apartment.

“Ah, that’s too far. They’ll probably also sell it for too much then,” Shoyo huffed, watching Tobio nodding. The people in Area 2B were traders and generally stingy.

A silence fell over the room.

“Are you done with the card readers?” the human asked, leaning back against his pillows. Shoyo loved pillows, had a bunch of them. He only ever brought home the clean ones though, the ones safely packaged in plastic bags.

Tobio nodded.

“Did you break any chips?”

“No, but one of the wires probably needs replacing,” the hubot explained, still scanning the room. Shoyo patted the bed beside him in invitation.

They sat in silence for a couple minutes. Shoyo went back to mark on his map of the area where they had searched today. He was using semi-translucent tape in orange to cover the patches he thought they had went over. Which was kind of hard considering the map was about a hundred years old. The forests and streets were no longer there, only the wrecks of buildings anything to go off. Shoyo eyed the blue pool, supposedly a damm way back. He would probably make it to that area next week or so. The damm was doubtedly left but Shoyo shuddered at the thought of suddenly falling through the scraps into water.

He couldn’t swim.

“Why do you live here?” Tobio suddenly asked, Shoyo looking up at him in the darkness.

That was a strange question.

“Where else would I live?” he asked back.

“No, I mean, why did you end up here in the first place. Where are your… parents?” Tobio asked, Shoyo noting how the hubot tried to be a bit sensitive, speaking lower. Looking down at his lap Shoyo slowly smiled tiredly.

“I don’t know,” he answered, looking at Tobio’s hand on his sheets beside him. “I remember my mother a bit… and I’m pretty sure we used to live closer to Area 2, by the water tower,” he explained, scratching his head.

“There’s an old man, Ukai, who lives over in 3F, he’s a scavenger and took in a bunch of kids. That’s where most of my childhood memories come from. While he taught us how to survive and make money of scrapping we scrap hunted for him. Before eventually leaving. He’s… not the ideal parental figure but he did teach me a lot, and you’ve got to have patience when taking in a bunch of kids. I don’t know what happened to my mother but without Ukai, who knows where I would’ve been? Probably dead,” Shoyo said, his last words a weak laughter.

Tobio didn’t laugh, though. He simply nodded before muttering; “I’m glad you’re not.”

Shoyo looked up at him, curious.

“Who would’ve found me if you didn’t?” Tobio explained.

Shoyo looked down guiltily at his hands in his own lap. “I… was planning, no thinking of-”

“Selling me, yes,” Tobio interrupted him. His eyes were on the sky outside, legs moving in the sheets, Shoyo listening to the rustling sounds.

The human stared at him, surprised.

The black-haired snorted. “I’m not stupid; I know I’m worth money.”

“Well,” Shoyo cleared his voice after a moment, draping his arms around his own knees, “I don’t think I’m going to anymore. You’re not that expensive, surely. And with all these broken parts,” he started, turning to see Tobio frowning at him. Shoyo giggled. “Sorry, just kidding.”

The silence was back for a moment, Shoyo contemplating whether to grab another jar of conserved beans or not; he was feeling a bit hungry. Or was it something else? Nervousness?

“Thank you,” Tobio said into the dark room, Shoyo staying still, looking at the stars. The human started rolling his thumbs.

“You too,” he whispered in reply, somehow feeling like he shouldn’t interrupt the silence, “I don’t like being alone,” he admitted before thinking.

“It’s…” he continued, feeling like he should explain a statement like that. However, he heard his voice shake for some reason, “it’s quite scary,” Shoyo frowned at his hands, lips pressing together tightly. Why was he admitting this to Tobio?

“It’s not a n-nice world we live in… so it’s pleasant to, for once, have someone,” he let slip slowly, turning to Tobio. The other was a bit closer now, looking down at him with his expressive eyes. Shoyo’s voice died in his throat, his fingers suddenly feeling sweaty clasping his baggy shirt.

“Most people don’t like being alone,” Tobio breathed, eyes almost appearing like they gave off light in the darkness. Maybe they did, Shoyo thought, feeling like he was looking at the starry sky again. He could certainly draw similarities to Tobio’s obsidian eyes. He kept those words to himself, however.

“I hate being alone,” Shoyo whispered, hearing his knuckle crack in his fist, realizing he was hoisting himself up, towards Tobio. As he slowly caught up with his own body, eyes widening, Tobio’s narrowed. A cold hand almost made Shoyo jump where he felt it on his other arm.

‘There’s something about him,’ Shoyo thought, not realizing how his eyes wavered back and forth from Tobio’s eyes to his perfectly shaped lips.

And before he realized it, they were kissing.

Shoyo hadn’t kissed many people before. A couple times with Yachi, the girl scavenging for food in the orphanage. That was about it. Kenma had suggested lewd things before but Shoyo had chickened out.

Never had he expected it to feel this amazing. It was just skin on skin, shouldn’t it actually feel gross?

Was it because Tobio wasn’t human that Shoyo felt so electric? Like he was buzzing with sparks.

Pushing forwards, Shoyo immediately wanted more. He was hungry for it and when Tobio moved only an inch back Shoyo grabbed his shoulders with both hands.

What was he doing? Had he gone mad?

A moan released his lips, the human blinking his eyes open in shock of hearing his own voice sound like that. He met Tobio’s half-lidded eyes, right in front of his. A moment of decision passed through the war inside Shoyo’s head before he moved forwards again, licking his lips. He wanted more. It was addicting, exhilarating and probably dangerous. Exiting.

When Tobio’s other hand fell onto Shoyo’s hips, perhaps to keep him still, the human hummed at the feeling. His shirt was baggy but also thin; he could feel the warmth through the fabric. With a daring move he raised up onto his knees, keeping his tongue pressed against Tobio’s lower lip which he sucked on.

Shoyo really had no idea how this was done, all he knew was from magazines he’d seen and books he’d read. He went on instinct; hopefully Tobio wouldn’t suddenly laugh at him or something.

Rather, instead, the hubot tugged him closer when Shoyo sat up and it was the human who laughed breathily into the kiss, getting pulled back down. With some awkward maneuvering while still attached to the lips Shoyo climbed into Tobio’s lap. Sitting down forcefully on him caused a shiver to run down Shoyo’s spine. He couldn’t ever remember being this close to a human before.

He was too involved with the kissing he didn’t realize that sentence was incorrect.

“F-fuck,” he breathed, having to lean back for air. He didn’t dare to open his eyes again, last time just the sight of Tobio’s had made him moan aloud. The feeling of a wet mouth on his neck felt strange at first, overwhelming, but soon amazing too. One of Shoyo’s hands trailed around to Tobio’s nape, caressing the short hair there. He ran his hand up into his hair, pushing him closer to his neck, groaning out into the room.

Shoyo’s hips had started moving, he couldn’t remember when, but it felt incredibly to rub back and forth against Tobio’s jeans. It felt wrong somehow, prohibited and dirty. Maybe that was why Shoyo could taste the thrill and excitement on Tobio’s tongue, behind his teeth and against his lips.

“Hnng, so good,” he mumbled between grinds, barely able to speak as Tobio was back to exploring his mouth eagerly, both turning their heads in turn to try to make their lips fit as close as possible.

Shoyo suddenly became aware of both of Tobio’s hands on his hips, now helping him move in the rocking motion. He felt them slowly move back behind to Shoyo’s ass, taking firm grips and massaging, the human gasping at the feeling. He was hard, incredibly so and was straining against the front of his pants. Probably already a bit wet too.

From the hardness he could feel through their layers of clothing he could tell Tobio was too. A questioning thought popped up in the back of Shoyo’s mind but was instantly swatted away as Tobio’s hands slipped beneath the fabric, palms splaying on his bare ass-cheeks now.

“I’m gonna-” Shoyo started, putting even more power into his dry humping, momentarily surprised it was even possible. He felt bloody amazing. It was so good, too good.

Suddenly lifted from the sheets Shoyo opened his eyes in time to watch Tobio flip them over, rolling over Shoyo to push him down into the sheets instead. The human was about to object but moaned instead as Tobio resumed thrusting against Shoyo, now pressing him down into the bed. They were bouncing slightly on the springs but Shoyo couldn’t care less, hands on Tobio’s hips, urging him to hurry up.

“Ah, ah, ahh!” Shoyo breathed loudly, not caring whether someone heard him or not, as his orgasm neared. His muscles tensed as he put his last effort into moving before he fell over the edge. Shoyo let his body fall back into the sheets, hips twitching. The wrinkles around his eyes relaxed as he did, keeping his eyes shut as he marveled in the feeling shooting through his entire body.

Masturbating was never this goddamn good.

Tobio was humming lovingly above him, lips trailing the side of Shoyo’s face, around his ear and cheek.

“Did you?” Shoyo asked, still kind of panting. He carefully blinked his eyes open, his brain still enveloped in a deep mist of post-sex. Everything was warm around him, the other’s body comfortable above him.

“Mhm,” Tobio replied, gently kissing his chin and jaw.

“Let’s sleep then,” Shoyo declared, happily closing his eyes. The laugh that fell from Tobio’s lips made Shoyo smile.

↞⇚ ↖◃⏣▹↗ ⇛↠

Shoyo woke up some late hour of the night, blinking at his digital clock on the wall. Soon 4. He looked over at Tobio, only now realizing they were both under the covers. The hubot must’ve moved him then.

Shoyo sat up in the bed, tipping over to slip into his comfortable and pink, fluffy slippers. After a quick visit to the toilet he stared at himself in the mirror. Licking his lips he couldn’t really taste much but they looked a bit red. So did his neck, he realized as he turned his head. He had two marks on his right side, frowning at how they looked. Almost like bruises. The ones Asahi sometimes had.

As it dawned on him how they got there he immediately flushed. Not because Tobio put them there but because Shoyo had made a fool of himself when he commented on them to Asahi like a year back. He didn’t understand why Noya was laughing or Asahi blushing while Shoyo recommended to put ice on bruises.

‘Stupid Noya’, Shoyo thought with a pout.

After turning off the lights he tip toed back to the bedroom, gently shutting the door. It didn’t matter though, as Tobio sat up in his bed, legs crossed. Their eyes met and Shoyo slowly stopped, looking at him. A shy smile fell onto his face, slowly kicking off the slippers before crawling onto the bed.

Tobio’s arms reached for him, like it was a reflex, and fell onto his hips again, gently this time. Shoyo enjoyed standing on his knees on either side of the hubot’s legs, looking down at, taller for once. It was dark inside the room apart from the artificial moon outside, the shape always a circle. Ukai had once explained to Shoyo how it worked before, with the sun behind, but Shoyo never really understood the science.

“You’re not tired?” Tobio asked into the silence, his deep voice nearly making Shoyo’s legs shake. He loved it, the feel of the vibrations as his two hands held onto his shoulders.

“Not really,” Shoyo replied, sitting down fully in his lap now, eyes in level with Tobio’s.

“You did go to sleep kind of early,” Tobio mumbled, his fingers trailing against Shoyo’s hip bones.

“Mhm,” Shoyo hummed, not realizing he was kind of cold until he touched Tobio who always seemed to be warm. Maybe it was naturally dispensed through the body from the heat of the motors, the scrap hunter part of Shoyo’s mind thought.

As if he read his thoughts Tobio reached behind Shoyo to first tug down the sheets then pull them up against Shoyo’s back, so they covered his legs. The human smiled cheesily before making himself comfortable, resting his head against Tobio’s upper chest and shoulder. He could look right outside the window positioned like this, his forehead warm against Tobio’s neck. The hands on his hips moved slowly, as in a pattern.

“How did you know about sex?” Shoyo tiredly asked without thinking, then giggling at himself.

“I think you just realized what a dumb question that is,” Tobio replied, continuing his caressing, fingers now crawling under his shirt and up his back.

“Okay, yeah,” Shoyo started, trying to suppress a yawn, “but you were a family-bot. Why would you need to know about sex?”

“There are many kinds of hubots, dummy,” Tobio sighed, “I’m still a hubot, supposed to be human. I just happened to kind of get the job as a brother to Tooru and Takeru. Though it still feels like I’m kind of babysitting a kid,” he added in an even lower voice.

Shoyo snorted, pushing him a little in the stomach. He didn’t move too much though, he was very comfortable at the moment.

Tobio’s breath felt strange against the top of his head, pushing the orange strands around.

“Do you miss them?” Shoyo asked, again, totally out of the blue.

Tobio sighed under him. “Yes, I do.”

Shoyo looked down at his own hand that had fallen onto Tobio’s chest in front of him. He weakly gripped the fabric of his shirt.

“Tooru was kind as a kid though,” Tobio suddenly snorted above him. “Takeru was always a nice kid, but he didn’t really care about me. Or anything apart from video games, I guess. Tooru, however, considered me his best friends until around 15, 16. Then he realized girls and parties were the important things in life.”

Shoyo listened, absently also hearing the humming of whatever machine was running beneath Tobio’s chest.

“Tooru was still playing volleyball, but I remember Mrs. Oikawa telling me to let him win when we were playing together. Or else he would lose interest in the sport, if he never won again me, you know? But even as I did, Tooru eventually quit. Either Mrs. Oikawa’s theory was all wrong or he just grew out of it. Because suddenly all Tooru seemed to want to talk about was sex.”

“Oh?” Shoyo whispered.

“It was strange for me first, because I still had all these commands constantly telling me Tooru in front of me was a kid. I had to make a couple updates to my system when he asked the first time. Instead of using the computer, like everybody else, he made me tell him about everything. I don’t think I really minded but I don’t understand why he didn’t ask his mother then… or rather that was probably why he didn’t research on his own, because she would see the internet history…” Tobio continued explaining, Shoyo feeling his own breathing slow down.

Before he knew it he was lulled back to sleep by Tobio’s voice.

**Author's Note:**

> Pretty please leave a comment with your thoughts!  
>  ~~It's the only pay I get after ignoring uni essays and writing gay-~~
> 
> Thank you for reading! (´∀｀)♡  
> Next part should be up tomorrow!


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